Here are more pictures of Harald, Sonja, ML, and Ari attending a press meeting at the northern Jorstad farmhouse at Maihaugen in Lillehammer where they will be spending Easter. April 12, 2003. All Over Press photo

While some members of Norway&#39;s royal family settled in at an historic farm in Lillehammer, Crown Prince Haakon took his wife Mette-Marit and her son Marius to Brazil for the Easter holidays. Meanwhile, a new little royal baby is due any day.

King Harald, Queen Sonja, their highly pregnant daughter Princess Martha Louise and her husband Ari Behn paraded for the press over the weekend, making small talk and posing for publicity photos before retreating for the Easter holidays.

It&#39;s the first time they&#39;re spending Easter at the historic Nordre Joerstad farm that&#39;s connected to the Maihaugen museum in Lillehammer. The farm features centuries-old timber buildings and priceless antiques, while the queen insisted the area also offers "great touring possibilities."

The royals traditionally have spent the long Norwegian Easter holiday at another of their many properties, a lodge in Sikkilsdalen, west of Vinstra. But this year, with the queen recovering from a variety of health problems and the princess due to deliver within two weeks, they opted to spend a few days together in Lillehammer.

Moreover, neither Crown Prince Haakon nor his wife, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, opted to come home to Norway for Easter. The couple has been living in London since last fall, with Haakon attending classes at the London School of Economics and Mette-Marit doing some studying, too.

They chose to fly down to Rio de Janeiro last week, and they took Mette-Mette&#39;s son Marius with them. They&#39;ll reportedly visit the crown prince&#39;s aunt, Princess Ragnhild, and her family, who have lived in Rio since the 1950s.

The Royal Palace wouldn&#39;t comment on the younger royals&#39; holiday plans, saying they were private. Nor would King Harald comment on revelations late last week that their living expenses in London top NOK 100,000 (about USD 15,000) a month.

"It&#39;s expensive to live in London," King Harald said in response to a question from reporters assembled for the photo op in Lillehammer. Princess Martha Louise questioned whether the figure was correct, even though it had been released along with an official accounting of royal expenses on Friday.

Royal minders quickly brought a halt to any more questions from the press.

APRIL 25, 2003: KING HARALD OF NORWAY, COLONEL IN CHIEF OF THE GREEN HOWARDS, ATTEND HANDING OVER CEREMONY FOR COLONEL FROM LT GEN RICHARD DANNAT TO BRIGADIER GENERAL JOHN POWELL, TOWER OF LONDON, BRITAIN.

Norway&#39;s Queen Sonja, who just became a grandmother, checked into a nunnery near Trondheim this week. She was clearly looking forward to some peace and quiet before resuming official duties Thursday.

The queen was to lay the cornerstone for a new bridge to Tautra on Thursday. On Wednesday, she arrived at a cloister at Tautra that&#39;s run by nuns from the Mississippi Abbey in Iowa.

Sister Hanne Maria, one of the Norwegian nuns living among the Americans at Tautra, said Queen Sonja was given the cloister&#39;s guest room, "the only one we have."

Sister Gilchrist, one of those on hand to welcome the queen, said it was a "very special day" for the cloister they founded in 1999, called Tautra Mariakloster. The queen responded that it was special for her, too.

"The weather is beautiful, you have prepared everything," said Queen Sonja in a mix of Norwegian and English for the five American, two Norwegian and one Belgian nun who greeted her. Local mayor Boje Reitan stood in the background and merely smiled: Tautra had never had a royal visit before.

"It&#39;s possible there were some queens here during the Middle Ages, but we don&#39;t have any overview," Reitan said.

The nuns run a boutique at the cloister, where they sell locally produced soap. Proceeds cover half the cloister&#39;s daily costs, with the rest coming from the abbey in Iowa. The nuns made a special soap made from carrots and grains in connection with the queen&#39;s visit.

The nuns conducted vespers just before the queen arrived, a half-hour sequence of chants and silent prayer. When the queen&#39;s car rolled up, the stillness was broken by the chiming of bells.

"What do we do now?" asked a curious queen after introductions were made. Apart from being told that dinner was to consist of a salmon tart, roast lamb and strawberry mousse, plans for the evening remained between the queen and the nuns.

May 7 - 8, 2003, Frosta in North - Tröndelag.
QUEEN SONJA VISITS THE TAUTRA MARIA CONVENT
On the 7th and the 8th of may 2003 Queen Sonja came to Tautra Maria Convent in Tröndelag to lay down the foundation stone at the convent. During the overnight stay, Queen Sonja had to sleep inside the convent in a simple bed, without TV or any other luxury. Photo: Trond Eide/Se og Hör/All Over Press Norway

April 23, 2003 - King Harald as Colonel in Chief of Green Howards attends handing over ceremony for Colonel from Lt Gen Richard Dannat to Brigadier General John Powel, Tower of London, Britain. RexFeatures Pictures

Polfoto 10-06-2003 Aandalsnes, Möre and Romsdal, Norway 10.6.03 King Harald and Queen Sonja started their journey around Möre and Romsdal county Thuesday June 10. They took the night train to Aandalsnes from Oslo. Here, they attend the opening of the worlds first train chapell. Photo:Tom E. Östhuus/Dagbladet / ALL OVER PRESS Norway

Polfoto 10-06-2003 Aandalsnes, Möre and Romsdal, Norway 10.6.03 King Harald and Queen Sonja started their journey around Möre and Romsdal county Thuesday June 10. They took the night train to Aandalsnes from Oslo. Here, they attend the opening of the worlds first train chapell. Photo:Tom E. Östhuus/Dagbladet / ALL OVER PRESS Norway

I&#39;ve noticed in some of his younger pictures that King Harald was one gorgeous looking man. Lucky Sonja. It&#39;s nice to see strong good looks like that which don&#39;t have that look of generations of parents related too closely. This is why marrying outside of royalty can be so important, it actually should be required.

Some people say it hurts the mystique of royalty to marry commoners, but conversely, I believe that if royalty has too much mystery and loses all touch with the commoner, it is in for real trouble on many fronts.

Originally posted by thissal@Jun 12th, 2003 - 6:11 am I&#39;ve noticed in some of his younger pictures that King Harald was one gorgeous looking man. .. It&#39;s nice to see strong good looks like that which don&#39;t have that look of generations of parents related too closely.

Hmmm ?

What do you mean ?

King Harald had and has good looks ? Yes, I understand that part :)

BUT his parents and all his grandparents were indeed closely related &#33;

Yes you&#39;re right, he was and still is one handsome man. I don&#39;t know how close his parents or grandparents were related, but it wasn&#39;t at the 1st cousin level, was it? Somewhere I got the idea it wasn&#39;t too close.